Draft - Local Church Audit Guide 6.9.06
36 pages
English

Draft - Local Church Audit Guide 6.9.06

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“So then, each of us will be accountable to God.” “We are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of the Church.” “Who then is the wise and faithful steward?” “Turn in the account of your stewardship.” THE LOCAL CHURCH AUDIT GUIDE For United Methodist Congregations Local Church Audit Guide Page 2 This booklet is given to you as a service of the Internal Audit Department and the Committee on Audit and Review of the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church. We hope you will find it useful. If you have suggestions for making it better, please telephone, write, fax, or e-mail the Director of the Department, who can be reached at these numbers and addresses: Dennis Belton, Director Department of Internal Audit General Council on Finance & Administration One Music Circle North Nashville, TN 37203 VOICE 615-369-2342 FAX 615-369-2340 dbelton@gcfa.org Our sincere thanks to the General Secretary of the General Council on Finance and Administration, Sandra Kelley Lackore, for her support and encouragement in the preparation of this second edition of the Local Church Audit Guide. We also thank the members of the Board of Directors of the Council and the staff of the Internal Audit Department in Nashville and Evanston, Illinois, for their helpful comments and suggestions. The Committee on Audit and ...

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“So then, each of us will be
accountable to God.”

“We are taking pains to
do what is right, not
only in the eyes of the
Lord, but also in the
eyes of the Church.”

“Who then is the wise and
faithful steward?”

“Turn in the account
of your stewardship.”



THE LOCAL CHURCH
AUDIT GUIDE






For
United Methodist Congregations
Local Church Audit Guide
Page 2





This booklet is given to you as a service of the Internal Audit Department and the
Committee on Audit and Review of the General Council on Finance and Administration of
The United Methodist Church. We hope you will find it useful. If you have suggestions for
making it better, please telephone, write, fax, or e-mail the Director of the Department,
who can be reached at these numbers and addresses:

Dennis Belton, Director
Department of Internal Audit
General Council on Finance & Administration
One Music Circle North
Nashville, TN 37203
VOICE 615-369-2342
FAX 615-369-2340
dbelton@gcfa.org




Our sincere thanks to the General Secretary of the General Council on Finance and
Administration, Sandra Kelley Lackore, for her support and encouragement in the
preparation of this second edition of the Local Church Audit Guide. We also thank the
members of the Board of Directors of the Council and the staff of the Internal Audit
Department in Nashville and Evanston, Illinois, for their helpful comments and
suggestions. The Committee on Audit and Review and the Department of Internal Audit
take full responsibility for any errors that might appear in this booklet.

The Committee on Audit and Review
by Stan Sutton, Chair
Nashville. November, 2001.



Local Church Audit Guide
Page 3










The Legal Department tells us we should start with a disclaimer. It is a good lesson
to begin this booklet since all organizations within the Church
should be attentive to professional advise given to them.




DISCLAIMER

The General Council on Finance and Administration and the Internal Audit
Department are not responsible for the conduct of local church audits, nor do they
provide legal or financial advice to local churches through this booklet. Local
churches should seek assistance and advice from their local advisors when specific
issues arise. This booklet is provided to you as a service; it should be used to increase
knowledge of auditing principles within your local church, including the
understanding of why audits should be conducted and the uses to which they can be
applied by local church officials.









Local Church Audit Guide
Page 4









LOCAL CHURCH AUDIT GUIDE
Second Edition


We will use a question and answer format in presenting the information in the
following pages. The questions and answers come from the experience of those
who have prepared this booklet, who are individuals who serve or have served on
local church finance committees and who have been there, done that. Some are
professionals in the field of church finance. The questions that follow are questions
we ourselves have asked or have been asked by others.

So let's start by learning a little terminology--some definitions. You remember
what the Music Man said about being good at selling musical instruments in that
musical show named after him: "You gotta know the territory!" Well, let's learn the
territory. It's not difficult to explore, and who knows, you might even have some
fun getting to know your job better.


Speaking of definitions, just what is an audit?

The Book of Discipline does not define what a local church audit is. It does not, for
example, say that an audit must be performed by a professional, or that it must
conform to generally accepted auditing standards, or that it must be prefaced by the
usual representations and caveats that auditing firms incorporate into their audits.



Local Church Audit Guide
Page 5








For that reason, we have gone to the Book of Discipline, where we found no
definition of the term "audit." We then turned to definitions used by
professionals and have tempered them by the application of common sense
made necessary by the fact that local churches vary so much in their
resources and in their budgets. We conclude that an "audit", as the term is
used in the Discipline, is meant to be a process that provides reasonable
assurance that good stewardship is being used in handling and accounting
for the funds and other assets of the local church. To a professional auditor
or accountant, how we define an audit may be closer in professional jargon
to a "review." However, the Discipline does not call for a "review," and that
is why the definition we have chosen and the steps we outline in this booklet
may fall somewhere in the middle between a full-blown "audit" and the
simpler "review."

Here is our practical, working definition of an audit for the local church:

A local church audit is an independent evaluation of the financial
reports and records and the internal controls of the local church by a
qualified person or persons for the purpose of reasonably verifying the
reliability of financial reporting, determining whether assets are being
safeguarded, and whether the law, the Discipline, and policies and
procedures are being complied with.







Local Church Audit Guide
Page 6






Why in the world would a local church want an audit?

This is a commonly asked question. Believe it or not, there's one set of
answers that fits all. And yes, we know that local churches come in all sizes
from a handful of members to thousands, with every gradation in between.
We know, too, that your locations vary from the heart of the inner city to
way out in the countryside. And yes, we've heard all kinds of related
questions asked about why a local church should have an audit,
Including –

why a small church with a tiny budget?

and why a big church with lots of controls in place and with a full staff of
professional administrators?

and then there's this one – why waste the time or the money, or both, when
everybody knows the church treasurer is as honest as the day is long?


Well, here's the number one reason why (to paraphrase "Jesus Loves Me"):

"For the Discipline tells me so."

Section 258.4 c) of the 2000 Book of Discipline makes it mandatory that
every local church finance committee "shall make provision for an annual
audit of the records of the financial officers of the local church and all its
organizations and shall report to the charge conference."
Local Church Audit Guide
Page 7





But there are more reasons than that for annual audits. Here are a few:

An annual audit is the best way we (and the General Conference) know of

< to protect the persons the local church elects to offices of financial
responsibility from unwarranted charges of careless or improper
handling of funds;

< to build the trust and confidence of the financial supporters of the
church in the way their money is being accounted for (trust and
confidence lead to improved patterns of financial support);

< to set habits of fiscal responsibility to assure that when there is
turnover in personnel there will be continuity in accountability and
nothing will fall through the cracks;

< to assure that gifts made to the church with special conditions attached
are consistently administered in accordance with the donors'
instructions, and thus let donors know their gifts are used as intended;

< to provide checks and balances for sums received and expended.

Conducting an audit is not a symbol of distrust.
It is a mark of responsibility.
It is good stewardship demonstrated for all to see.
It is a message to local church donors that you care about their gifts.


Local Church Audit Guide
Page 8





But don't I have to be a fiscal expert to understand local church auditing?

Not on your life!

Local churches all over the United Methodist world do a great job of filling
their responsibilities to make provisions for an annual audit without the
benefit of formal training in accounting or fiscal management, whether it's
an audit by outside professionals, or whether it's by some person in the
congregation with financial knowledge or expertise, or whether it's by the
treasurer of a neigh

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